


It's all in the past

by Kiloueka



Series: No Spoilers [5]
Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: 2B is trans, Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Animal Rescue, Anxiety, Bathing/Washing, CPTSD, Catharsis, Chicken Rescue, Chickens, Childhood Memories, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feelings, Feels, Gender Related, Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, LGBTQ Themes, Love, Memories, Mental Health Issues, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Modern Era, One Shot, Projection, Repressed Memories, Rescue Hens, Slice of Life, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27992691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiloueka/pseuds/Kiloueka
Summary: 2B had been dreaming of rescuing chickens for several years before she and 9S decided to buy an old house out in the boonies to make that dream a reality. Their troubled pasts have 9S seeing a weekly therapist and 2B's recent downturn in mood has 9S concerned about the future of their relationship and their sanctuary.
Relationships: 2B/9S (NieR: Automata)
Series: No Spoilers [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1475246
Comments: 10
Kudos: 16





	It's all in the past

**Author's Note:**

> Extremely self-indulgent, cathartic, projection incoming! I'm not sorry. I love chickens and people need to be nicer to them.

“I dunno,” 9S sighed as he stared at his webcam with a dull expression. His therapist sat quietly on the other end in her office. Several blurry charts and motivational images were orderly tacked up on the wall behind her. “I feel she’s been more...distant lately I guess.”

“Distant, how?” his therapist asked, scratching something down in her notes. The video glitched for a moment and 9S shifted his laptop to a better position.

“Like,” he paused and looked out the window at 2B tending to the chickens. “Well, she’s been spending a lot more time with the girls lately.” He saw her adjust one of the tiny knitted sweaters on a hen before kissing her on the head and letting her go. 9S began fidgeting with his jacket. “I mean I guess that’s understandable since her sister dropped off another twenty last week with no warning, but still. Even before that.”

“Before that? About when did you notice this change?”

“Not sure, it’s been gradual so about three or four weeks?”

“Okay, let’s look back at your notes from a month ago.”

9S nodded while his therapist pulled up his diary card.

“I know I’m probably overreacting about all of this,” he sighed and let out a sad chuckle. “It’s probably just homesickness or something. But I dunno, I just feel like there’s something else going on.”

“What do you think that is?”

9S took a sip of water, and then another, and another until half of his large glass was empty.

“I don’t know,” he closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, “I don’t know if I did something wrong or maybe she’s regretting doing this, but no that wouldn’t make sense because she’d be spending less time with the chickens, wouldn’t she? Or maybe she’s making herself spend more time trying to force herself to enjoy this more or…shit I don’t know,” he groaned. “Or maybe I did something wrong and am too stupid to remember.” His hands started to shake. “Or maybe…” he didn’t want to say it out loud. “Maybe she’s just gotten tired of me. We’ve only been here… not even six months, but it’s…” he swallowed and pushed a lump from his throat. “It’s a big change and everything. Or maybe that’s the problem and I’m worrying over nothing and she just...we just need to adjust more.”

“9S, that’s a lot to handle,” the therapist said. “Adjustment periods can always be a big challenge so it’s likely that could be contributing to it. Do you want to try problem-solving?”

“Okay,” he nodded.

She leaned forward and pulled something up on her screen. “Can you see this okay?” Her picture disappeared and was replaced with a worksheet.

“Yeah.”

The remaining session time was spent breaking down 9S’ fears and insecurities into manageable chunks. She helped him plan the week ahead, walking him through how he might approach 2B about his fears and worries. They created a checklist broken down into manageable goals.

As their session grew to a close, 9S felt a bit more confident about the coming few days. He knew 2B loved him, he just needed a little reassurance. It was likely she needed the same from him too.

“Next week do you want to work more on problem-solving?” his therapist asked. “Or do you want to try a group session?”

9S thought for a moment as he watched 2B toss old straw from the coop. “I’ll try talking to her later then get back to you; can you send me those worksheets we used today?”

"Sure thing," she nodded.

They said their goodbyes and hung up; 9S leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a long moment. He breathed deeply, mind flashing with words and feelings from the past hour. He slapped a wet washcloth over his face. The biting cold was a much-needed shock to his system and he jolted out of his chair and headed to the bathroom.

Their tiny bathroom, still not fully constructed, was weirdly tucked away at the far corner of the first floor. He had to push past some empty boxes and dodge the giant spider that protected them from invading flies.

"All right, run the bath, butter her up, and ask what's up," he said to himself as he turned on the tap. "If she doesn't want to talk about it then..." he paused, swirling the warming water with his hand. Damn, what then? He bit his lip and tossed in copious amounts of lavender bath salts.

"Mention group therapy and change the subject," he shrugged and left the bathroom when he was satisfied with the water temperature.

He exited the room, only half paying attention, and tripped over the boxes. He caught himself in the nick of time but nearly smashed the poor spider against the wall.

"Sorry Spinelle," he mumbled as she skittered up the wall. He cursed under his breath and headed to the back door.

"Bath, butter up, spider," he blinked. "Wait no, bath, butter up, ask, group therapy. Yeah," he nodded to himself. He took a deep breath and stepped outside, he could already feel his heart rate increasing. Calm down idiot, this shouldn’t be this stressful.

2B was sitting on a log in the garden watching over some hens as they scratched around the plants in search of bugs. She had an unripe, partially-rotted pumpkin in her lap and was busy cutting off the moldy bits and tossing them over the fence. Chunks of another failed pumpkin were scattered around her feet while a few chickens happily pecked at them.

“Twoooo Beeee,” 9S sang as he opened the gate to the garden. One of the hens, aptly named Henrietta, tried to make a mad dash to the woodpile by the house. He held his foot out in front of her and had to gently tap her with his boot until he could shut the gate behind him. She ballooned in size, fluffing out her incomplete set of feathers and letting out a high-pitched growl.

“Nines,” 2B lit up and set the pumpkin down. She scooted over and patted the log beside her. 9S scooped Henrietta up and settled down next to 2B.

“How was therapy?” 2B asked, taking the squirming hen from 9S. Most of the chickens were in terrible conditions when they arrived at the sanctuary; missing feathers, covered in bugs and sores, barely able to walk and scratch and roll around in the dust.

“It was okay,” 9S smiled and leaned his head on 2B’s shoulder. Henrietta pecked his arm and he yelped and jerked away. 2B set her on the ground and papped her on the backside to send her back to the other hens.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

9S rubbed his arm and leaned back on 2B. "In a bit,” he paused. “I have the bath running right now. Are you about done here? Do you wanna join me?”

2B's eyes lit up. She nodded. "Yeah, I just need to finish up here, should only take ten minutes."

"Need help?" 9S tilted his head.

2B shook her head and smiled, making 9S' heart flutter a bit. "Get the bath ready, I'll join you in a sec."

"Kay," 9S hummed and slipped through the gate, making sure no wayward hens tried to slip past.

"Oh, Nines?" 2B called out.

"Yeah?" 9S spun around to see 2B standing with a chicken in each arm, one of whom was a new arrival wearing a bright teal sweater over her nearly-featherless body. It was such a stark contrast to Henrietta, who, despite still looking rather disheveled, had finally grown most of her feathers back.

"Can you pour some of the lavender salts in?"

"Way ahead of you!" 9S beamed.

2B smiled warmly. "Thank you." She turned to herd some of the chickens back into their pen.

"Anytime," he said, too quiet to hear. He waved to her even though she couldn't see him, then turned to head back into the house.

He returned to the bathroom just as the water began to spill into the overflow drain. He sighed, grabbed a bucket from below the sink, and filled it up to be poured on the plants later.

The lavender aroma was strong in the tiny room and 9S had to fight the urge to jump in the bath ahead of time. 

_ Wait for her. _

There was nothing else for him to do to prepare so he busied himself with cleaning the sink and counter. It didn’t take long for 2B’s telltale heavy footsteps to reverberate through the hallway. He perked up and found a stopping point and sat down on the edge of the tub. 

When 2B poked her head in the room he had leaned over seductively with one leg over the other and a smug grin on his face. 

“Hey,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

2B snorted and sat down next to him. “Hello mister sexyman,” she said in a sultry voice.

“Hello madame sexywoman,” he responded in a similar tone.

She gave him a small smile but 9S could sense something was amiss. She didn’t have her usual glow to her and the corners of her lips didn’t pull up quite as far as she normally did. 

“You ready?” he asked, grabbing the bottom of her shirt.

2B nodded and pulled away, allowing 9S to begin removing her clothes. She returned the gesture and 9S admired her toned muscles on display in the brief moments his eyes weren’t covered by his clothes.

He slid back in the tub with a splash and gestured at 2B to join him. She obliged and nestled down on top of him. She was much larger than him with her impressive muscles and height, but the water kept her from crushing him under her. 

Not that he would have minded if she did.

They lay in silence for a while as the heat soaked deep into their sore muscles. 9S ran his hands up and down 2B’s chest, wiping layers of dirt and sweat off her. She brought her hand to his face and stroked his cheek; the lavender that clung to her hand made him feel more at ease.

It was as good a time as any to ask her; better to hurry before the lavender lost its effect. He kissed the back of her neck and spoke softly.

“Hey, 2B?”

“Hmm?” She turned slightly toward him.

“I...well,” he paused and squeezed her hands. Uncertainty wove its way through his mind and he took a deep breath of lavender to calm himself.

“What’s wrong?” 2B squeezed back. He briefly looked into her eyes before looking away. “Babe?”

“Sorry, I just…” This was a lot harder than he thought it would be. “I don’t know, you’ve felt distant lately.”

She turned away and kicked at some of the bubbles drifting by her feet. “Sorry,” she said in almost a whisper.

“No, no, it’s okay,” 9S pressed his forehead to her neck, “I mean...it’s not, I mean, well, did I do something wrong?”

“No!” 2B whipped around, splashing water and suds out of the tub. “No, it’s not you, I promise, it’s just…”

“Please tell me.”

2B stared at the water. She began to twirl her hair in her fingers, a sign she was thinking hard about something--worrying hard about something. 9S began to massage her arms, working the tension out bit by bit. 2B let out a faint whimper but stayed silent.

He wasn't sure if he should ask again.

Finally, 2B mumbled something too quiet for him to hear.

"Hm?" he tilted his head.

"You're too kind to me," she said a bit louder.

9S wasn't sure how to react. Gratitude? Denial? Questioning? "Wh-what?"

2B let go of her hair and let her hand fall in the water. "I mean--I'm sorry," she sighed.

"It's okay," he murmured, squeezing her tight.

"No it's not," she hissed. "I mean--god damn it." she poked at the drain stopper with her toe.

"It's o--don't wo--just say what you feel, 2B." He poured more lavender salts into the water and swirled them with his leg.

"How are you so good at emotions and saying things and words and stuff?"

"Huh?"

"You can articulate your feelings a lot better than I can," she sighed. "I just," she gestured vaguely in the air. "Do this."

"Oh, er," he thought back to their childhoods. "Well do you want the long answer?"

"No, I know it's therapy, and your mom's better than both my parents combined and all that but..."

His heart ached at her words. "I can teach you some of the skills I've learned later."

2B shrugged.

"Just let it out, don't worry about it making sense or anything, I can just ask you to clarify." He kissed the back of her neck. "Please."

"Okay," 2B said after a long pause. “I just. Don't feel this is real sometimes, or that I deserve it. Life is good right now, I should feel good too, right? I'm doing good things, right? But I don't deserve it, I guess. You’re working hard pulling in all the money to support this and I’m just out in the yard playing in the dirt and picking bugs off half-dead chickens.”

9S felt his gut twist. “2B don’t say it like that. What the hell?” He gasped and slapped his hand over his mouth. 2B shrunk down into the water. “Sorry, I mean… do you really see it like that?”

2B was silent.

“2B--well…” he rubbed a spot of dirt off her sunburned shoulders, she flinched a bit but didn’t say anything. “Well, what...what would you do if I said I was just sitting around playing games and talking to random creeps in the chat all day while you were out there doing backbreaking work saving all the girls from becoming chicken nuggets?”

2B’s shoulders twitched and she let out a small, sharp exhale, though 9S wasn’t sure if it were a laugh or a sob. “I’d tell you to shut up and be nicer to yourself…You're doing important work.”

“Playing games and breaking old computers?”

“Making money to support all this...and making people happy…and you know it’s more than that--editing videos and managing the server and whatever.”

“I can say the same thing about ‘picking bugs off chickens’,” he playfully nipped her shoulder and recoiled when the sharp taste of soap assaulted his tongue. He spat it out and dunked his head under the water to rinse his mouth.

“You dork,” 2B said when he resurfaced. Her voice already seemed lighter and her chest shook with faint laughter.

9S wiped the water from his eyes and smiled. He rested his chin on 2B’s shoulder and pressed his cheek against hers. “That’s me! Your number one nerd, ready to get shoved in lockers and--”

2B flinched away and curled in on herself, letting out a low whine. “I’m sorry.”

“Huh? Sorry?”

Her body tensed. “I’m sorry for everything I ever did,” her voice grew louder. “I hurt you so much and you’re just so nice to me and you’re doing all this for me and it should be the other way around,” her shoulders shook and she furiously wiped her face. “No matter what I do I can’t make it up to you, this was all my idea and you just went along with it, you just dropped everything to just get this shitty house out in the boonies so I could live my dream.”

9S sat in shocked silence as she let everything out.

“I mean I know I’m doing a good thing I guess by helping the chickens but what am I doing to help you? Nothing! That’s what. And what even am I doing to help anyway? We already lost three of the ones A2 brought in last week and they’re just gonna breed more to replace them anyway. Am I just prolonging their suffering, am I just prolonging your suffering? I don’t know what to do anymore. I can’t give you back what I’ve taken from you all those years. I can’t un-eat all those animals I’ve eaten before, I can’t even apologize because they’re all fucking dead anyway. I can’t just undo what I’ve done to you in the past. It just feels like--it feels like I'm not making a dent in anything and just--” she coughed and grabbed a cup of water in an iron grip and downed the entire thing in one gulp. “I’m sorry.”

9S couldn’t formulate words. He just listened to 2B sob quietly while leaning up against the cold, tile wall. She mumbled more apologies between bouts of sobbing. All 9S could do was squeeze her hand and gently rub her shoulders.

“2B...is--is that what’s been bothering you this past month?”

She nodded and mumbled, “It’s more than that.”

“More than a month or more than...what you said?”

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“Both?”

“Yeah,” she said quieter.

9S bit down on his lip and ran his tongue along the scar on the bottom edge. “Well, I--you…” Shit. He put his hand on 2B’s chest, right above her heart. Her hand came up and she weaved her fingers through his and squeezed.

“D-don’t you have a stream soon?” She sighed quietly.

“They can wait, this is more important. Just say what you need to say.”

2B squeezed his hand harder. “I don’t know how,” she sniffed. “That all just kinda came out.”

“Okay,” 9S pursed his lips and searched for his next words.

“You should stream.”

“Not sure I can put on my persona so soon after this.”

“Sorry.”

“No, no,” he gasped. “No this is good, the stream can wait. I want to know what’s hurting you. I want to fix this.”

“No I need to fix it, it’s my fault.”

“2B,” 9S squeezed her. “Come to therapy with me next week and we can talk about it there. Was already talking to her about it earlier.”

“Okay,” 2B nodded.

“And you can think of what to say too.”

“Yeah.” 

9S relaxed and leaned back, pulling 2B with him. She let out a long sigh and went limp against him.

“You’re too good to me.”

9S kissed the back of her ear. “So are you.” 2B grumbled but 9S nipped her. “Shush, you are. We’re both broken and sad and we can fix this together, yeah?”

“I guess.”

“Yeah?” he said with a bit more force.

“...Yeah.”

“Man,” 9S grumbled as he looked at his wrinkled hand. “We’re getting really pruny. We should probably get out soon before we become raisins.”

“Five more minutes,” 2B whined.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Five minutes turned into ten, then fifteen. The rapidly cooling water was what ultimately forced them from the tiny tub. They dried each other off, and threw their baggy pajamas on, and headed to the living room.

9S flopped down on the couch and waved his hands in the cool air. His pruning had made him look eighty years older and he groaned like an elderly man when 2B sat down next to him. 

“Wanna look at cursed real estate photos?” 9S asked, waving his phone. He didn’t want to pressure 2B to say more so he opted for distraction for the rest of the night.

“Sure,” 2B shrugged.

He pulled up a blog filled with pictures of terribly-designed homes for sale. They scrolled through several pages in silence; the only sounds that could be heard were the faint sounds of chickens scratching around in the yard and an occasional chuckle from 9S. He wrapped his arm around 2B and leaned up against her; he rested his head on her chest and listened to her heartbeat.

9S snorted when a new page loaded and displayed an image of a nearly-empty, stained room with only a lawn chair and a massive pile of clothes in the corner.

“Haha, looks like your sister’s old place,” he laughed, zooming in on the pile.

2B gave a half-hearted chuckle and sank lower on the couch. 9S’ smile faded and he brushed the hair from 2B’s face and placed a light kiss on her forehead. She let out a faint hum and nothing more.

“Is this not helping?” 9S asked in a soft voice. “Do you want to do something else? We haven’t seen 4S’ streams lately.”

“This is fine,” 2B sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just...thinking.”

“Do you want to talk about it? Or do you want a distraction?” 

“I don’t know.” She began picking at the frayed corner of the cushion they desperately needed to reupholster. 

9S thought for a moment. If 2B was stressing about the past, then maybe she just needed a reminder it wasn’t all bad.

“Remember the time I threw up in Ms. White’s class?”

2B turned toward him and nodded, her head tilted to the side slightly.

“And then that bastard Adam started teasing me for it and you pushed him down in it and he landed on his face?”

A small smile cracked on 2B’s face. “Yeah.”

9S’s chest felt lighter at the sight. “Man I almost threw up again laughing at him. He was trying to be pretentious and everything about it like,” 9S tone shifted to a mockery of a British accent, complete with his finger pushed up against the base of his nose. “‘Oh dear me this is unpleasant I’ll have your head for this m’lady.’” 

2B’s smile grew and she let out a single huff. “I don’t think it was quite like that.”

“Eh, who cares, he was probably thinking it,” 9S shrugged. “I always thought I was really clever for convincing Ms. White that he tripped on his own shoelaces and fell.” He pursed his lips and looked into the distance. “But now that I think about it, I think she knew it was you and pretended not to believe him. She probably hated the bastard as much as we did.”

2B’s body relaxed and she shifted into a more comfortable position with 9S on top of her. He hummed and buried his face in her breasts and listened to her rhythmic breathing. 

“Soft pillows,” he hummed and nuzzled into her cleavage. 

2B gently smacked the top of his head and 9S let out a mischievous giggle. 

“Man, fuck that guy though,” he said with a mix between a laugh and a sigh. “Dickhead was Reddit personified and it didn’t even exist back then. Fuckin fedora-wearing, m’lady dickass, pretentious...er…” He paused to think of the perfect insult.

2B picked up where he left off. “Dickwaffling, can’t shut-upping, Rick and Morty 420 IQ hav...ing...hmm…”

“Teacher-interrupting, well-akshully-ing, getting-in-your-business-ing asshole,” 9S finished with a sharp huff and dramatically went limp.

“Wonder what happened to him anyway,” 2B mused, twirling her finger in 9S’ hair. 

“Who cares,” 9S shrugged. He let out a squeak when 2B’s hand snaked down and squeezed his ass. “Probably not doing anything as cool and kind as rescuing thirty billion chickens.”

2B hummed and squeezed his ass again. “I hope his brother’s doing okay though. Poor guy seemed to be always in his shadow. Hopefully, he managed to be more independent.”

“Yeah,” 9S mumbled into 2B’s breasts. His voice was muffled and 2B pushed his head to the side so she could hear him. “Maybe we should start rescuing former classmates next?” he said with a smirk.

“Well, we do have a spare room,” 2B huffed. 

“Nah he’d be staying in the shed until he stops talking about his uwu best bro.” 

2B lightly smacked the top of 9S’ head again. “I’d much rather 6O or 4S move in, though.”

“Well, yeah. I was just joking about the Eve rescue.”

“I know.” 2B kissed his hair. 9S purred and pushed up against her. She smelled so nice; the lavender oils were still thick on her body and he was half-tempted to lick her neck but decided against it. Sometimes things that smelled good didn’t also taste good. Plus, 2B didn’t seem to be in the mood to get...frisky.

“Man, speaking of White’s class, do you remember the time she gave us an F on our project because I forgot to have my mom sign it for us?” He sat up and looked into 2B’s face with a scowl. “I’m still salty on that. Man, I worked so hard on it too.”

“Be glad she didn’t tell your mom about your attempted forgery.” 2B said with a smirk. “Your handwriting was atrocious.”

9S snorted and looked away with an exaggerated pout. He saw his notebook covered in chicken-scratch on the coffee table and his frown deepened. “It still is atrocious,” he laughed, shaking his head.

“Eh, I got used to it,” 2B said. She grabbed 9S by the chin and turned his head to look at her. He continued to pout but couldn’t hold his face for long when 2B mirrored his expression in an even more exaggerated way. It reminded him so much of their childhood and their little pouting contests. They would progressively make angrier and angrier faces until one of them cracked and laughed. He held back a chuckle and instead wrinkled his nose and made the biggest scowl he could manage.

The corner of 2B’s lip twitched but she pushed the smile away and made an even more disgusted face. Her mouth cracked open to reveal her transparent retainer. 9S noticed a tiny piece of food squished up inside of it and resisted the temptation to pick it out for her. Instead, he stuck his tongue out and wiggled it at her like a snake.

2B snorted but held her expression. She sat up and crossed her arms and looked away with her head upturned. 9S turned away and copied her posture but exaggerated her head-tilt with a little grunt. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and awaited her next move. A photo of the two of them and his mom at some long-demolished theme park caught his eye and an even older memory resurfaced in his mind. Something he hadn’t told 2B yet, at least he thought he didn’t. 

He bit his lip as a laugh threatened to escape. His cheeks quivered and he scowled as deeply as he could to hide it. He didn’t fool 2B though; it didn’t take much effort for her to take advantage of his weakness. She threw herself back on the couch with the back of her hand covering her eyes and let out a loud snarl.

A tear formed in 9S’ eye as his face began to hurt from the strain of the forced frown. Before he could think of a one-up 2B rolled her upper body off the couch and slapped her other hand over her eyes too. 

9S cracked at that and doubled over; his shoulders shook and he let out a wheezy cough in the middle of his bout of laughter. 

“I win,” 2B smirked and quickly joined him. The two of them cackled like little schoolchildren and wiped tears from their eyes simultaneously. 

“That was an easy win,” 2B chuckled. She let out a long sigh and repositioned herself on the couch.

“Yeah, haha,” 9S snorted. “I just remembered something else really dumb that I don’t think I told you before?”

“Oh?” 2B perked up and clasped her hands together. “Like what?”

9S’ face reddened even more and he scratched the back of his head, suddenly embarrassed at the memory. 

“Come on, Nines,” 2B whispered, sliding up against him. “Tell me.”

A shudder ran down 9S’ spine and he pushed 2B down and lay on top of her. “Remember the time way back when you first started coming by my place a lot?”

“Yeah?” She shifted around under him and rested her hands on his back.

“And how mom started calling you her second child and you started calling her mom too?” 9S let out a shaky laugh.

“Mhm?”

“And how I kept trying to stop you from doing that?”

2B paused and let out a soft snort. “I think I know where this is going.”

9S laughed and shook his head. “My dumb kid brain thought that would make us actual siblings and then I’d be arrested for having a crush on you.”

“You dork,” she smiled.

He pressed his forehead against hers. “What can I say? Kids are stupid.”

“Yeah.” She pressed back harder and let out a soft sigh. “To be fair, we were probably dating for three years before I connected the dots. I always assumed you just didn’t want to share your mom’s attention or something.”

9S laughed. “Well, that might have been a part of it.”

“I can’t blame you though, she’s a good mom.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “For the most part.”

“Better than my mom ever will be.”

9S squeezed her shoulders, smile fading.

“Sorry,” she sighed. “I just ruined the mood, didn’t I?”

“It’s okay. It happens. Just let it out, I’m here.”

“Right,” 2B hummed. She pressed her face to 9S’ shoulder and went silent for a moment. “Sometimes I wonder if she ever loved me...even before I came out.”

9S’ chest tightened and he fought the urge to blurt out that he was sure she did and still does, but…

He didn’t like lying to her.

“It--” he paused. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” He tugged at her hair. “Family is bullshit anyway. We have each other. We have my mom and aunts. And we have all our friends all over the world. And I guess my subscribers too, er, well, the non-horny ones.”

2B snorted and shook her head. 9S felt a chill run through him, unsure of the meaning of it. His worries were quickly extinguished as a small chuckle grew in 2B’s throat. He let out a shaky sigh and joined her quiet giggles. 

Her expression softened and relief washed over 9S. She was beautiful, absolutely radiant. The way the corners of her eyes crinkled when she smiled. The way she occasionally squeaked or snorted. The way her cheeks grew so red so easily. The way her silky hair bounced to the beat of her laughs. 

“I love you, 2B,” 9S sighed. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers; his shoulders still shook with faint laughter.

2B gasped and went silent; she pushed back against him and let out a satisfied hum.

“I love you too, Nines.”

9S gazed out the window at the vibrant sunset. He was glad the days were lengthening, but the early darkness was always a good excuse to cuddle up with 2B and get some early rest. 

He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly; his body went limp as he buried his face into 2B’s neck.

“Perfect nap weather,” he murmured. “You’re so comfy.”

“Gotta put the girls to bed first,” 2B said. 

“They’ll be fine,” 9S whined. “We can do it later.”

“Mmm,” 2B yawned. “Not too much later though.”

“Kayyy,” 9S sank further down onto her. Her rhythmic heartbeat lulled him into a comfortable daze faster than any lullaby could hope to. 2B lazily ran her fingers through his hair until her hand fell to the side and 9S could hear the telltale signs of sleep coming from her.

Just before he fell into a deep slumber, the sounds of heavy footsteps and frantic chicken calls jolted him awake. 2B bolted upright not a second later, nearly throwing 9S off the couch. He grabbed onto her arms for support and whipped his head around to look out the window.

His stomach dropped when he saw the figure come into view.

It was A2.

Dirty and feral as ever.

With a towering pile of crates held firmly in her strong arms.

Crates packed with terrified chickens.

“Hey,” she said, looking straight at them. “Got you some new pets.”

“Goddammit, not again.”

**Author's Note:**

> One day A2 comes along with 4 terrified wild turkeys tucked under her arms. 2B and 9S struggle to get her to understand they are not, in fact, escaped farm turkeys and she should put them back where she found them.


End file.
